This invention relates generally to surgical operating tables, and more particularly to a type thereof wherein an upper structure for supporting the body of a patient is detachably mounted on a part of a lower structure which is adapted to move up-and-down and to rotate around the longitudinal axis and the transverse axis of the operating table, and furthermore all of the aforementioned movements of the part of the lower structure as well as the swinging movement of a part of the upper structure for supporting the back of the patient are made by individually provided electric motors.
Heretofore, a surgical operating table of a separate type wherein the upper structure can be elevated, lowered, and rotated around the longitudinal and transverse axes of the operating table, a part of the upper structure supporting the back of a patient being swingable in a vertical plane, has been widely known.
Although the above described type of surgical operating table has various advantageous features, it is found that the conventional surgical operating table of this type is still accompanied by several problems as described below.
Firstly, when the upper structure removed off the lower structure and transported on a wheeled stretcher (hereinafter referred to simply as a stretcher) with a patient supported on the upper structure is required to be mounted on the upper structure again on the lower structure, or conversely when the upper structure supporting the patient thereon is to be dismounted from the lower structure and fixed on the stretcher, it must be manually assured that the upper structure has been brought back into the horizontal disposition, and the hoisting circuit for the upper structure must be manually cut off for eliminating any accidental energization of the circuit during the engaging and locking operations of the upper structure.
Furthermore, the construction and the arrangement of the parts of the rotating mechanism, for rotating the upper structure around the two axes, of the conventional surgical operating table have been such that there are tendencies of the operation of the surgical table to be disturbed and of the observation range in X-ray photography to be restricted.
In addition, the electric system of the conventional surgical operating table has been such that all of the electric motors and the control circuits are operated at the line voltage in the district of usage through an elaborate cord system or slip-ring system.